'Lightning' the Humanoid Robot Beats Human Record at Beijing Half-Marathon

The day has arrived when a humanoid robot can beat human runners at a long-distance race. At a marathon in China over the weekend, a bot called Lightning smashed the official human world record for 13-mile races, beating the second-place human winner by more than 17 minutes.

The Beijing E‑Town Half-Marathon was the second annual race to put machines and athletes on parallel courses, AP News reported Sunday. More than 12,000 people and at least 100 humanoid bots took part in the race at Beijing's Economic‑Technological Development Area, each running a total of 21 kilometers (just over 13 miles) on separate tracks. For the robots, the race was a test of speed, balance, navigation, and endurance in real‑world conditions, rather than lab simulations.

The standout performer was a humanoid robot from Honor (yes, the same Honor that makes mobile phones) called Lightning. It completed the ...